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Ecology
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Orchids belonging to the South African endemic genus Bartholina are terrestrial species, for which the distribution extends from the south-western and southern Cape Province to the semi-arid Namgualand to the southern borders of the Great Karoo. The most common species is B. burmanniana, which can form extensive colonies on pebbly ground on the veld. Bartholina etheliae is much rarer, and normally only small colonies or individual plants are found growing under shrub by vegetation. It flowers from October to January after a period of summer dormancy during the dry period, the aerial stem arising from the small, spherical tuber underground prior to anthesis. The flowering period of B. burmanniana is earlier, between August and November, depending on the aspect of the habitat. In this species, the occurrence of flowering is promoted by fires on the veld (Schelpe 1966). (RN).
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Distribution
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A small genus of two species in Cape Province of South Africa. (JW).
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General Description
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Dwarf, terrestrial herbs growing from ovoid-oblong tubers. Leaf solitary, prostrate, fleshy, reniform-orbicular, amplexicaul, hairy. Inflorescence one-flowered; scape hairy, lacking sterile bracts; bract lanceolate, much shorter than the the ovary, hairy or glabrous. Flower large for plants, resupinate, spidery; pedicel and ovary curved, hairy or glabrous. Sepals subsimilar, free, erect, green, hairy or glabrous. Petals erect, falcate or sinuous, lanceolate, adnate to the dorsal sepal, white or green, glabrous. Labellum much larger than the sepals and petals, spreading-deflexed, three-lobed, glabrous, spurred at the base, white with white or green lacerae; lobes deeply lacerate, tapering or clavate at the tips of each division; spur short, shorter than the ovary, tapering-conical. Column erect; anther loculi subparallel, connivent toward apex, the connective not distinct; pollinia two, clavate with elongated caudicles, coarsely granular; viscidia two, small, reniform; rostellum three-lobed, the mid-lobe short, reflexed, the side lobes sessile; stigma sessile. (JW).